There’s no where to hide in Liverpool’s defence, and following Sunday’s last gasp win at Loftus Road, the microscope on their faltering backline will be intensified that much more when defending European champions Real Madrid visit Anfield tomorrow evening.
The return of Champions League football to Merseyside has been a long-term goal of the Reds hierarchy since they dropped out of the competition back in 2009, but when you’re not playing well, coming up against a European powerhouse such as Los Blancos can either be a major motivator or a horrible blow to a team already dealing with a lack of confidence. While it’s questionable whether or not he means it, Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren is choosing to take the positive route.
“It’s the first time in my career I was unhappy after the game even though we won — because we didn’t play well. We need to improve and play more like a team” said the Croatian following the Reds win over Queens Park Rangers over the weekend. “This was not an easy game but one that we should have seen out comfortably, especially after taking the lead. We need to be better and in our next game against Real Madrid we need to show more.”
Lovren has taken a bit of a battering since trading Southampton for Liverpool over the summer in a big money move, and while it’s understandable that it will take time for him to bed in with defensive partner Martin Skrtel, Kopites everywhere would have hoped that familiarity would have been firmly established before we hosted Real Madrid in Europe.
“We will not play like that against Real Madrid, you can be sure of that” he continued. “We will be better. We cannot play like this because we know what we can expect from Real Madrid. Their players, we know who they are and we will prepare a little bit differently.”
